Winter Weather in Alabama, January 7, 2010

Name: Winter Weather in Alabama, January 7, 2010
Start: 2010-01-07T08:00
End: 2010-01-07T16:00
Location: Alabama

January 7, 2010 · NWS BMX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

An area of low pressure moving along the northern Gulf of Mexico brought a mixture of snow, light sleet, and a bit of freezing rain, to parts of Central Alabama. Most of the precipitation was light.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.

An area of low pressure moving along the northern Gulf of Mexico brought a mixture of snow, light sleet, and a bit of freezing rain, to parts of Central Alabama. Most of the precipitation was light. However, there was enough accumulation on the roads in a few northern counties to cause some hazardous driving conditions.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 6, 5:30 PM CST, 14 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 6, 5:30 PM CST, 14 hours 30 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 6, 5:35 PM CST, 14 hours 25 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Blount

When: January 7, 8:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Blount forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 33.981, -86.567 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A period of snow followed by dropping temperatures led to numerous slick roads across Blount County. Roads around the communities of Locust Fork, Hayden, and Snead, as well as the city of Oneonta, had to be closed due to ice formation on them. The icy roads lasted into the overnight hours, long after the precipitation had quit falling.

Winter Weather, Etowah

When: January 7, 8:30 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Etowah forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 34.045, -86.035 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Numerous roads across Etowah County became icy, and driving on them was described as treacherous, due to a period of snow that fell when temperatures were close to 32 degrees.

Winter Weather, Cherokee

When: January 7, 9:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Cherokee forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 34.176, -85.604 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A portion of AL-68, near the Cherokee/Dekalb County line, became icy and very hazardous to travel on.

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alabama in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, January 2010

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 213072, 213073, 213074.